


Late nights and loneliness

by FlamboyantProblematic



Category: Quantum Break (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, a bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 07:45:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10381878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlamboyantProblematic/pseuds/FlamboyantProblematic
Summary: During the time Jack is away, Paul is left to look after Will and Will is not always easy to take care of, when he's working himself to death and isolating himself. Paul does what he can to break through and that's by doing something as simple as calling Will at night just to make sure that he's alright





	

**Author's Note:**

> No one really gave thought to how cute Will/Paul would be so I'm here to contribute. Enjoy the fluff... and angst... kind of.  
> This is my first story (as you can tell) so hey, be nice.

A faint light,  
A buzzing noise that came from the table, completely neglected by Dr. William Joyce for what seemed to be an eternity. William was simply too occupied to concentrate on such trivial noises, his brain was already burying the buzzing with the millions of thoughts crushing down on him. His hands too busy transforming his thoughts into diagrams and charts on papers that he ended up scribbling on, crumbling, and throwing in a trash can that was already overflowing with wasted papers. 

Then there was silence for a while, a silence Will didn't notice. The buzzing had stopped and the faint light had died down. The scientist kept working. 

The noise picked up again, stopped, then came again. 

It wasn't until Will had turned to grab a note from over the board hung over his phone did he see "8 missed calls" he stared at his phone for a while until the light died again, even then he made no attempt to see who it was. He simply went back to work until the buzzing returned.

"P. Serene" read the screen. 

Maybe with news about Jack? 

Will hesitated but he picked the phone up before the buzzing had the chance to die again and answered. 

"William! I've been trying to reach you all night! Are you alright?"

Will blinked. He didn't understand why Paul Serene sounded so concerned. "I'm fine." He replied simply. 

A sigh of relief then a faint laugh came from the other side of the line. "What are you up to?"

Will shrugged and didn't realize Paul couldn't see it until the other man called his name.

"You're not still working, are you?"

"I am." 

"Dude, it's midnight."

"So it is."

Paul sighed, not in relief this time. "You looked a bit tired at work today, thought you should go home and get some sleep."

"Later."

"You promise?"

Will wasn't good at keeping promises.

"Should I come over?"

"The doors are locked, you won't be able to get in."

Paul laughed. "I work there with you, dummy. I have a card. How else would I have known you looked tired today?"

Oh... did he? Now that Will thought about it, he did faintly remember seeing Paul around the halls of the university. 

"No, that won't be necessary"

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"William?"

"Yes, Paul?"

"Talk to me."

 

Silence.

 

"William?"

"I don't know what to say."

It's strange, he wasn't sure why Paul wanted to talk to him. He remembered now, this wasn't the first night Paul called late to talk. He calls almost daily... yet... Will never knows what to say. 

"It's okay. I'll start then, alright?"

"Yeah."

"I talked to Jack today, Actual phone conversation," Will leaned in, the topic immediately catching his attention. "He's alright so you don't have to worry. In fact, my BFF is having the time of his life!" There was a pause as if Paul was expecting Will to say something but he didn't so Paul went on. "He asked about you, you know? I told him you were fine. I know he doesn't reply to you, maybe you've even given up on texting him now but William... he's worried about you."

Will was glad to hear that though didn't have the words to describe it so he said nothing. 

"You have to be alright for him, okay? I'm his best friend but you're his brother. If something happened to you, he won't have anyone else in the world."

"I know."

"He never says this but he loves you, Will."

Will sighed. 

"Anyway," Paul said when he realized he shouldn't be pushing the subject any further. "How's work going?"

"Fine"

"Any marvelous discoveries?"

There was a sound from Paul's end, he shifted. Despite it just being background noise, to Will it sounded louder than Paul's actual words.

"What?" He asked 

"Any marvelous discoveries?" Paul repeated.

"Nothing yet." Will lied, he just didn't want to tell Paul anything he wasn't certain of yet. More work would have to be done before he can call anything a 'marvelous discovery' 

"Bummer, but something is gonna pop up soon, I'm sure."

"Yeah." Now Will was half listening to what Paul was saying, his mind returned to the papers on the desk and he was calculating things in his head, writing down the answers. 

"It's kind of lonely without Jack, isn't it?"

Will was now listening again. Paul suddenly sounded very tired. 

"Do you ever feel that? Lonely?"

Lonley... Will wasn't sure. He was mostly occupied with work so he never had time to feel lonely. 

"It's like... feeling empty," Paul explained. "A lot of my life centers around things I did with Jack. Causing trouble, taking trips. I mean, I have other friends but... it's not the same, you know?"

Will didn't.

"You and I are friends, aren't we?"

Were they? Will never thought of it. Paul was around Jack more than he ever was around Will. Sure they spent time together, Paul was a curious kid who wanted to know about science. Will helped him with some projects for school, looked after him when his parents were away. Now they were older and the tables seemed to have turned. Now Paul was the one taking care of Will. 

"I consider you a friend anyway."

Will didn't have anything to say about it. He'll think about it later.

"By the way, I saw your jacket today and thought I should tell you that it's pretty awesome. Haven't seen you wear any Old Gods of Asgard jackets in a while."

Will looked down at his jacket. "Oh yeah."

"You still listen to them?"

"Sometimes, music kind of distracts me from work"

"I get you. Stonecrow is coming to Riverport soon."

Oh.

"Do you want to go? I could get us ticket.

...

"Front row and everything"

Will wasn't good with crowded places. 

"No thanks."

"That's alright" Paul sounded disappointed. 

There was no words exchanged for a while, Will thought Paul might have fallen asleep until he heard him yawn. 

"Why are you up, Paul?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Why?"

"Just because"

"Why?" Will repeated, this time sounding more serious, a strictness in his voice Paul was familiar with; it was his voice whenever he was about to get angry. 

"No reason, William, really. I just like talking to you."

"I don't understand." He barely did any talking so how can Paul enjoy it?

"I don't know, it's kind of hard to describe it to you. You were never good with emotions, if I have to be honest."

"I guess."

"Hey, William?"

"Yes?"

There was another shifting noise, Paul probably moving in his bed. "Are you busy tomorrow?"

Of course he was, Will was busy every day.

"If not then I thought maybe you and I could get dinner together after work?"

"Like... outside?"

"Takeaway, then we can just go home and watch some movies, drink a beer or something."

"Oh."

"It's okay if you can't, maybe some other day?"

 

Silence

 

"William?"

Will looked at his work and found himself drifting away into his mind, thinking. Paul's voice becoming faint.

"Please tell me you fell asleep or something... not that you can tell me if you did, duh. But like, give me a sign that you're alright, man."

...

"Will?"

...

"Fucking tap on the table or something!"

...

"I'm coming over."

"Huh?"

"Oh thank god," Paul let out a sigh. "Will, please go home and get some sleep. I better not go to work tomorrow and see you sleeping on the chair again."

"Okay"

"You worry me when you do that, you know? Drifting off... because I never know how to get you back. Where do you go?"

"I don't know."

"Is it a scary place?" Paul's voice was soft now, like he was giving in to sleep... or relieved? Will couldn't tell for sure.

"Not always"

"Will you tell me about it?"

Nothing...

"I'm sorry. I'm just curious."

"Paul? I think I'd like to see you tomorrow for dinner."

"Really?" Will wasn't sure why Paul sounded so excited about that. 

"Yes."

"That's great, William. I look forward to that."

"I'm going to go home now."

"Good. See you tomorrow!"

"Okay."

"Goodnight."

... "Paul?"

"Mhm?"

"I'll tell you about it tomorrow, where I go to in my head I mean. It's kind of hard to explain over phone."

"I'll be happy to hear all about it."

"Paul?"

"Yes?"

"Is loneliness what I'll feel after you hang up?"

Paul was silent for the first time.

"I think I've been made aware of it, loneliness. This place is empty..."

"I'm still here with you, Will. I won't hang up if you don't want me to."

"Was it always this empty here?"

"No, only at night. In the morning we're always there, there are more people around the university to the point where it's annoying sometimes really."

...

"Why don't you leave the university and head home now?"

It was lonely there too. There was no one but Will, Jack was gone. He wouldn't have been if Will hadn't yelled at him...

"Can you come pick me up?"

There was a sound of a door closing. "Already on my way."

"Thank you, Paul."

"Nah, don't mention it."

Paul filled the silence with small talk, distracting Will from the sudden realization that he was in fact alone. Luckily, the university wasn't that far off but when he arrived, Will wasn't waiting outside as he expected. He was still in the lab, the lab that was faintly illuminated by a single light. How did Will even work in a mess of a place like this?

"You ready to go home?" 

Will nodded. They let silence loom over them now, it was a comfortable silence for once. Paul hummed a song that Will was certain he was familiar with, and after that everything was a haze. Will had fallen asleep as soon as he was seated in the car. 


End file.
